NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who served in the
military tend to have experienced more traumatic childhood
events, such as being abused or living with an alcohol-dependant
parent, than people who are not veterans, according to a new
study.

In particular, men who volunteered for the military were
more than twice as likely as men without military experience to
report at least one adverse event in childhood, which supports a
theory that people may use the military to escape from
dysfunctional home lives, the researchers write in JAMA
Psychiatry.

"It may be a sign of resilience," John Blosnich said. "They
may recognize the military offers training, education and
advancement. Our next step is to look at whether or not these
adverse childhood experiences are related to their health
outcomes."

Blosnich is the study's lead author and a researcher at the
Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Veterans
Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Adverse childhood events include a range of negative
experiences that have been linked to lifelong consequences such
as post-traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol abuse,
attempted suicide and shortened life expectancy.

If past research suggesting some people may join the
military to escape personal problems is true, Blosnich and his
colleagues write, adverse childhood experiences may be more
common among current and former military members.

That has implications for the current healthcare needs of
military personnel and veterans, the authors point out. And,
because past trauma may make a person more vulnerable to
developing post-traumatic stress disorder after a new adverse
event like combat exposure, it suggests elevated risks for poor
mental health in the affected soldiers.

To get a sense of how common adverse childhood experiences
are among people who served in the military, the researchers
analyzed responses to a survey conducted in 10 U.S. states and
the District of Columbia by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in 2010.

The survey included questions about 11 adverse childhood
experiences, including living with a person with a mental
illness, living with a person abusing alcohol or drugs, living
with someone who was in jail, going through parental divorce,
being physically or verbally abused and being sexually abused.

Over 60,000 people, including more than 7,500 with a
military history, took the survey and were included in the
analysis. The study team distinguished between those who served
in the all-volunteer military after 1973 and those who served
before 1973, during the draft.

Overall, men who served in the army during the all-volunteer
era had more adverse experiences in all 11 categories than those
without a history of military service.

That was especially true for sexual abuse with 11 percent of
those from the volunteer-era reporting being touched sexually,
compared to about 5 percent of non-military people.

Those who served in the volunteer military were also about
twice as likely to report childhood experiences of being forced
to touch someone sexually and being forced to have sex.

People from the volunteer military were also more likely to
report adverse experiences from four of the 11 categories,
compared to people without a history of military service.

Having had an increasing number of adverse experiences is
important, the researchers write, because the number is tied to
the severity of poor health outcomes later on.

There were far fewer differences among men who were drafted
into the military, female veterans and people who never served
in the military.

In the draft era, the researchers note, men without adverse
experiences entering the military would have diluted the effect
of volunteers.

Women may not demonstrate the same patterns because female
survivors of adverse experiences - especially victims of sexual
abuse - may not see the military as an escape, they add.

It's impossible to know whether those who reported more
adverse childhood experiences joined the military because of
them or had poorer health as adults, Blosnich said, because the
survey didn't ask those questions.

"I think we just need to know more about this and how it may
or may not operate within military health in order to know where
to go from here," he said.